17 M4 dies to load 17 FB

[willyp19]

Can I use 17 M4 dies to load 17 FB? Has anyone tried this successfully?

[POKERPLAYER]

I have about 300 rds of MKIV brass, and I have a XR-100 single shot 17FB. I had to grind off my shell holder to bump the shoulder back untill they chamberd easily and haven't had any problems. The throat on my chamber was long so I used my MKIV form die on new 222 brass and trimmed them to 1.445 and was able to get 20gr V-max to the lands. I can't tell any difference in accuracy. I just neck size now and the brass seems to work.

[BrianM]

I have 2 17 Mach IV rifles and one factory 17 Fireball rifle . I load for all 3 rifles with the same set of Redding 17 Mach IV dies . Never had any problems at all .

[StevenD]

Do you have FB or M4 dies?

[Tom_Brush]

I know this thread is old but I thought that I would post my experience since it is interesting.

Quite a few years ago I had a gunsmith chamber a 17M4 for me. I had him purchase the reamer. He chambered my rifle and a friends before noticing that the reamer was wrong. The chamber was oversize down around the head. I had purchased the 17M4 dies (very expensive). It took great effort to size the case. I thought that I may split the die it sized so hard. I tried several sizing lubes but none worked.

The gunsmith called the reamer company and complained. The reamer company was very well known for quality. They replaced the reamer but would do nothing about the barrels. My barrel was a sporter weight and there was no room to rechamber it.

I purchased a Wilson neck die and this enabled me to load a few shells. The rifle has been in the gun safe for years. I had contacted Redding in the past about a custom die but it was cost prohibitive. Lately I got thinking about the custom die again. Since the .17 Fireball was out maybe I could have a .17 Fireball die modified to work.

I sent three fired cases to Redding and they replied that my chamber actually resembled the .17 Fireball more than the 17M4. The only difference was that my chamber is .007 short. Their suggestion was to buy a set of 17 Fireball dies and grind .007 off the bottom. I bought the dies and instead of grinding the dies I took .015 from the shell holder. The cases size like butter and the headspacing is perfect.

So the interesting part is: Was this reamer manufacturer making an experimental reamer for Remington for the .17 Fireball or is it just a coincendence?

Tom

[Cappi]

Can i assume then that if i buy a set of cheaper .17 Fireball dies , that i can also reload the .17 Mach IV without any problems ?

[A17Shooter]

Heres a link to Steve's Pages dwg of Mach IV.

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd17machiv.jpg

Heres a link to Steve's Pages dwg of 17 Fireball.

http://stevespages.com/jpg/cd17remingtonfireball.jpg

Of course the Mach IV is not a standard cartridge so your's may differ from the drawing. :confused:

[MarinePMI]

So the interesting part is: Was this reamer manufacturer making an experimental reamer for Remington for the .17 Fireball or is it just a coincendence?

Tom

Tom,

Wouldn't surprise me at all if you got an experimental reamer by accident. The two cases are so close in dimensions, it could have easily been mistaken for a Mach IV reamer...